James Martin (priest, born 1960)


James J. Martin is an American Jesuit priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America. In 2017, Pope Francis appointed Father Martin as a consultant to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communications. He is a New York Times Best Selling author and frequent commentator on the life and teachings of Jesus, and on Ignatian spirituality as inspired by the life and teachings of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Father Martin's outreach to the LGBT community has drawn a strong backlash from conservative Catholics. He is the author of Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

Education and career

Martin grew up in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982 where he received his bachelor's degree in economics with a concentration in finance. He worked for six years in corporate finance at General Electric in New York City and in human resources with GE Capital in Stamford, Connecticut.
Dissatisfied with the corporate world, and after viewing a documentary on the life of Trappist monk Thomas Merton, Martin became more deeply involved in the Catholic Church and entered the Society of Jesus in August 1988. During his studies to become a Jesuit priest, Martin earned a M.A. in philosophy from Loyola University Chicago in 1994, a M.Div. from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in 1998, and a Th.M., also from the Weston School, in 1999. He was ordained a priest in 1999.
In addition to his work at America magazine, Martin has written or edited more than a dozen books on religious and spiritual topics. He is a frequent commentator for CNN, NPR, Fox News Channel, Time magazine, The Huffington Post, and other news outlets, and has written several op-ed pieces and blogged for The New York Times. In September 2019, Martin met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss the pastoral care of LGBT Catholics.

Theatre and film

Martin is a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company. His involvement with the 2005 stage production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and featuring Sam Rockwell, John Ortiz, Eric Bogosian, and Callie Thorne, is the subject of Martin's book A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus, Judas, and Life's Big Questions. Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review. Martin appeared as a priest, performing two baptisms, in Martin Scorsese's 2019 crime film The Irishman.

''The Colbert Report'' appearances

On September 13, 2007, Martin appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss Mother Teresa's fifty-year sense of abandonment by God which had much coverage in the media at the time. Martin appeared several more times on The Colbert Report, once to discuss Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the U.S. in April 2008, and again on February 23, 2009, to discuss how poverty can bring one closer to God.
On March 18, 2010, Martin was invited to the program in the wake of Glenn Beck's suggestion that Catholics run away from priests who preach "social justice". Martin noted that "social justice addresses the things that keep people poor" and "asks you why are these people poor." He added that "Christ asked us to work with the poor.... In the Gospel of Matthew He says that the way that we're going to be judged at the end of our lives is not what church we prayed in or how we prayed but really... how we treated the poor." On August 10, 2011, Martin appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss God's "approval rating" and to promote his book The Jesuit Guide to Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. On November 9, 2011, he appeared once again to promote his book concerning humor and religion, Between Heaven and Mirth. On February 11, 2013, he went on the show to discuss the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. On September 24, 2013, he was on the show, talking about an interview where Pope Francis said that love, compassion, and mercy are more important than the rules, and introducing Metallica. On September 24, 2013, he appeared to discuss income inequality and the Pope's emphasis on economic justice and on the importance of caring for the poor.

Critique of anti-Catholicism in the media

Martin has written about anti-Catholicism in the entertainment industry. He argues that, despite an irresistible fascination with the Catholic Church, the entertainment industry also holds what he considers obvious contempt for the Catholic Church. He suggests: "It is as if producers, directors, playwrights and filmmakers feel obliged to establish their intellectual bona fides by trumpeting their differences with the institution that holds them in such thrall."

LGBT issues

Martin first became involved in LGBT issues following the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, stating, he was "disappointed that more Catholic leaders did not offer support to the LGBT community" in the aftermath of the shooting, and started a series of lectures on how the Church could better minister to LGBT Catholics, which led to his book, Building a Bridge.
The book was hailed by several prelates, including Bishop Robert McElroy as well as cardinals Kevin Farrell and Joseph Tobin. Tobin wrote that "in too many parts of our church LGBT people have been made to feel unwelcome, excluded, and even shamed. Father Martin’s brave, prophetic, and inspiring new book marks an essential step in inviting church leaders to minister with more compassion, and in reminding LGBT Catholics that they are as much a part of our church as any other Catholic." However, it received a backlash from conservative Catholics, who successfully lobbied for many of his lectures at Catholic venues to be cancelled. In a critique of the book, Cardinal Robert Sarah described Martin as "one of the most outspoken critics of the church’s message with regard to sexuality". In 2018, Cardinal Raymond Burke stated that Martin has "an 'open' and wrong position on homosexuality".
Journalist Frank Bruni noted that Father Martin did not "explicitly reject Church teaching" but rather questioned the language in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that describes homosexual acts as "intrinsically disordered". In a column, Martin wrote that he has never challenged the Church's teaching on homosexuality and never will. Some critics have said that nowhere in his book has Martin affirmed the Church's magisterial teaching to be true. Princeton professor Robert George argued that Catholics should accept that Martin believes in the Church's teaching on homosexuality.
In 2017, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia described many of the attacks against Father Martin as "bitterness" that is "unjust and unwarranted," but called for "serious, legitimate criticism" of the book's "perceived ambiguities" and inadequacies. Chaput argued that dealing with the substantive issues frankly "is the only way an honest discussion can be had." In 2019 Chaput again criticized the "bitter personal attacks" that have been made against Martin, calling them "inexcusable and unChristian." While stating that many of Martin's efforts to accompany and support people with same-sex attraction have been laudable, Chaput also criticized Martin for "a pattern of ambiguity in his teachings," and for asking the Church to modify its teaching that same-sex attraction is "objectively disordered." Chaput stated: "The suggestion that the wisdom of the Church, rooted in the Word of God and centuries of human experience, is somehow cruel or misguided does grave harm to her mission." Martin replied that same-sex relations and same-sex marriage "are both impermissible under church teaching," and that the reason he doesn't focus on this "is that LGBT Catholics have heard this repeatedly." Bishop Thomas Paprocki and Bishop Richard Sticka supported Chaput's column. Bishop Paprocki described Father Martin's attitude as "deeply scandalous in the sense of leading people to believe that wrongful behavior is not sinful."
Martin addressed the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, with over three-fourths of the Associations' school presidents in attendance, urging them to take steps to promote inclusion. Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of the ACCU, remarked that Martin was warmly received by "a new generation of Catholic college presidents" who reflect "the influence of Pope Francis". But J.D. Flynn, editor-in-chief of Catholic News Agency, contended that Martin presented in his address a "vision of the human person at odds with Catholic teaching". Flynn wrote that "every initiative" recommended by Father Martin, such as "Lavender graduation" or "L.G.B.T spiritualities, theologies, liturgies and safe spaces", was designed "to affirm the lie that sexual inclination or orientation is, in itself, identity".

Conflict over Communion

In 2019, Father Martin criticized the public denials of Holy Communion to several lawmakers, including Joe Biden, based on their support for abortion rights, and to a woman who had contracted a same-sex civil marriage in the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Martin wrote in a tweet that denying Communion to politicians was a "bad idea" because in this case one "must also deny it to those who support the death penalty". Several Catholic authors and priests criticized Martin's interpretation of canon 915 which forbids the administration of Holy Communion to those who persist in manifest grave sin. In 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that "there may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia". Regarding same-sex marriage as public grave sin, Martin argued that there were "many other examples of public acts well known among parish communities." The Diocese of Grand Rapids issued a statement supporting the decision of the priest.

Awards

Martin's book My Life with the Saints was the winner of a 2007 Christopher Award.
In May 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Wagner College on Staten Island, New York.
In May 2012, Martin served as commencement speaker at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Saint Louis University in St. Louis, and Immaculata University in Immaculata, Pennsylvania. He received an honorary degree from each school as well.
In May 2014, Martin served as commencement speaker at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
In November 2015, Martin was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity from Regis College, the Jesuit theological college within Toronto School of Theology.

Publications

Books authored